The Royal Library was ostensibly a place for quiet reflection and academic pursuit. For Kaia Taryn, it had become a post office for depravity.
She slipped into the stacks while Victoria was busy interrogating a seamstress about the structural integrity of a sleeve ruffle. The air in the library was cool and smelled of old paper—a stark contrast to the sticky heat lingering on her skin from the promenade.
She walked straight to the section on Agrarian History. It was the driest, most boring section in the library, visited only by dust mites and, apparently, the Crown Prince.
She pulled out a thick, leather-bound volume titled The Crop Rotation of the Southern Provinces: Volume IV.
It opened easily. The pages had been hollowed out to create a small, secret cavity. Inside rested a single, folded piece of heavy cream stationery.
Kaia's heart did a traitorous little flip. She unfolded it. The handwriting was sharp, aggressive, and undeniably masculine.
